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Custom-tailored
campaigns
Ecolife is a Flemish non profit organisation which started
working at the beginning of the nineties. It organises
campaigns where people are encouraged to adapt their
lifestyles and consumption patterns. These campaigns are
developed with the support and in cooperation with cities,
provinces, the Region and other local and regional
actors.
With its unique experience and competence in developing and
animating information campaigns, Ecolife has developed with
partners from local and regional authorities various
programmes to help citizens and consumers to adopt more
ecological lifestyles. Each campaign is adapted to the
specific public and to their needs and interests.
They have thus developed campaigns for consumers, for
students, for retailers, for people working in administrations
or in small companies, for the building sector,…Campaigns
address as well a waste production as electricity or water
consumption, mobility, heating, construction or thermal
isolation.
Eco-teams for changing
lifestyle
With those partners, Ecolife has launched the Eco-teams. Each
team is composed of about 10 person which meet approximately 8
times. The topics of discussion can be selected among the
following issues: waste, electricity or water consumption,
mobility or domestic heating. The team chooses itself the date
and frequency of meetings as well as the topic discussed. In 6
years, more than 250 eco-teams have been created. Each one is
supported by a guide, one of the ten collaborators of Ecolife
which participates to the firsts meeting and to three other
thematic sessions. Each participant receives a workbook which
provide background information and an extensive set of
practical tips.
The participation to these sessions is not free. Each
participant has to pay about 18 €. However, these are
rapidly paid for themselves. The teams have calculated that in
average, savings amount between 150 and 250 € on each
participant’s invoices for electricity, water and waste
during the stay with the eco-team.
Measuring is Knowing
According to its experience, Ecolife estimates that a key
success factor of its campaigns is the correct measure of the
results achieved. In the eco-teams, each participating
household is requested to measure regularly and to keep in a
notebook the situation of the water or electricity meter, to
estimate the volume of waste and the numbers of kilometres
driven by car.
Various actions developed by Ecolife allows participants
define beforehand measurable targets for changes and to
quantify progress realised :
- the Ecoteams can estimate their
savings in % ( of electricity or water consumption, of
heating expenditures on of waste production )
- the Ecoscore campaign, which use
ecological footprint, allow people estimating the number
of m2 of Earth area they spare,
- participants to the Bet, a challenge
between university students and the Belgian Minister of
the Environment, calculate their savings in kg of CO2.
On the average, an “ecoteamer”
reduces its waste from 1,47 kg per week to 1,0 kg (32%) at the
end of the programme, electricity consumption is reduced from
26.8 kWh/week to 23.5 kWh/week (12.5%), and water consumption
from 73 litres/day to 64 litres/day (12,5%).
Ecoscore – save
some hectares of the Planet !
In October 2001, 13 municipalities of the Kortrijk Region
started the Ecoscore project. Among the 260.000 inhabitants of
the Region, 116 households committed themselves to try during
100 days some initiatives they chose among the tips provided
for actions around heating, hot water, food, kitchen,
electricity, waste or mobility.
Each household were provided with calculation methods and
data’s allowing to assess the progress realised.
Calculation methods of the
Ecoscore
The Ecological Footprint (faire un lien vers partie 1) allows
people to estimate the surface area of Earth saved for various
saving initiatives as the table below illustrates for various
examples:
| 1 kWh |
2,6 m² |
| 1 L oil |
8,9 m² |
| 1 L petrol |
11,6 m² |
| 1 kg biologic
beef |
261 m² |
| 1 kg fresh
beans |
9,7 m² |
| 1 kg deep-frozen
beans |
14,5 m² |
| 1 m3 gas (40MJ/m³) |
7,4 m² |
| 1 kg white
paper |
20,8 m² |
| 1 kg recycled
paper |
7,15 m² |
This allows calculating that one day with one sticker against
free advertising on the mailbox allows saving 2,26 m²or that
one day without meat allows an economy of 5,8 m² per person
or that replacing fruits from greenhouses with seasonal fruit
reduces the ecological footprint by 8,99 m²per kg.
Source: http://www.ecoscore.be/nl/tips/
At the end of the first project in Kortrijk, the participants
succeeded to save an area equivalent to more than 100 football
pitches. This represent an average 10% decrease compared to
the start of the project and approximately 25% less than the
average Flemish household. During the project, most tips
applied addressed food, home heating en water consumption. The
actions with the most significant results concerned food (29%
of the total savings), heat (26%) en mobility (23%).
A rapidly spreading
initiative
Participants are generally happy with the project. The
application of easy to implement advices and the immediate
evaluation of results contribute to determine objective
oriented actions and to illustrate that each small actions
count and that, together, they can make a difference: “a
journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step”.
At the end of the first project a new one has started with 78
participating households and a third initiative started in
February 2003 in the province of the Flemish Brabant (250
households were expected to take part). The project is already
extending in the Walloon region were projects were supposed to
start in 2003.
More information
Return to
"Supporting changes in consumption behaviour"
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